Gov. Deval Patrick

Joy Spring and Carla Barbano waited until Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick signed a bill Thursday that repealed a 1913 law that had blocked same-sex couples from outside Massachusetts from marrying in the state.

The Middletown couple have an 11-year-old daughter, Lizzy.

"It's extremely important. If something happened to one of us she'd always be taken care of," said Spring, who joined Barbano in a civil union in 2006 in New York.

The Massachusetts House has voted to allow gay marriages involving out-of-state couples.

The lawmakers voted 118-35 today to repeal a 1913 law that bans couples from marrying in Massachusetts if their own states would not allow the unions.